[95] AGRICULTURAL REPORT. VERY few preceding seasons have been so blessed as this. The wheat blossom went off most kindly, the consequence of which has been a large and prolific ear without an appearance of mildew, which promises, if the weather continues cold and dry, a most abundant and early harvest. The crop is large in breadth and bulk, and, if well secured, will doubtless defeat those intentions that tended to keep up the price. Barley is also an universally good crop, but with too much straw upon the deep loamy soils being considerably lodged even before it broke into ear. Oats are also well belled, large on the straw, and promise more than an average crop. Beans, peas, and the whole of the leguminous kind, have podded well, being large and full, and remarkably free from the fly and the grub. All the soiling species have yielded this spring a greater produce than can be remembered by the oldest farmer; but the brassica tribe have suffered much in consequence of the late dry weather, the turnips in particular, except the early sown Swedes. The hay crop has been secured in very good order, and the quantity much larger than can be remembered for many years past. The hops have a favourable appearance, but the apples in the cyder counties fall short indeed. CORN EXCHANGE, JULY 24.—Wheat, Foreign, 49s. to 76s.-English, 48s. to 78s.-Fine! Rye, 32s. to 36s.-Barley, 21s. to 355.-Malt, 56s. to 708.-Oats, 21s. to 355.Flour, 60s. to 65s.; seconds, 55s. to 60s. SMITHFIELD MARKET, JULY 24.-Beef, 4s. od. to 55. od.-Mutton, 4s. 4d. to 5s. 2d. -Lamb, 4s. 6d. to 6s. 28.—Veal, 4s. to 5s. 2d.-Pork, 4s. 6d. to 5s. 2d. per stone of 8 lbs. ST. JAMES'S.-Hay, 31. to 41. 10s.-Straw, 11. 4s. od. to 11. 16s.-Clover, 41, to 61.6s. Hops, New Pockets. Kent, 61. 6s. to gl. 14s.-Sussex, 51. 15s. to 71. 10s.-Farnham, 111. to 131. Average Prices of Corn, By the Quarter of Eight Winchester Bushels, from the Returns received in the Week ended the 15th of July, 1815. [ 96 ] METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER. Kept by C. BLUNT, Philosophical Instrument-maker, 38, Tavistock-st. Covent-Garden. Barometrical Pressure. Temperature Moon. Day. Wind. Max. Min. Mean. Max Min. Mean. Mean barometrical pressure Maximum, 30°25, on the 29th of June RESULTS OF THE MONTH. wind at W. Mean temperature. Maximum, 90, on the 13th' 62.883 wind at S. Minimum, 29'56, on the 19th. wind at W. Minimum, 46, on the 9th.. wind at N. SCALE EXHIBITING THE PREVAILING WINDS DURING THE MONTH. N NE E SE S SW W NW P. 471, col. 1, line 2 from the bottom, after September, insert "1728:" 474, 1, -21 for character, read characters. 2,11 from the top, for particular, read particulars. 60°57 63.5 65'062 - 475, 2,11 and 12, for 2000, 700 of which brilliant impressions, read 2700, of which there are upwards of 2000 brilliant impressions. Printed by J. Gillet, Crown Court, Fleet Street, London. THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. 20.] SEPTEMBER 1, 1815. [VOL. IV. MONTHLY MAGAZINES have opened a way for every kind of inquiry and information. The intelligence and discussion contained in them are very extensive and various; and they have been the means of diffusing a general habit of reading through the nation, which in a certain degree hath enlarged the public understanding. HERE, too, are preserved a multitude of useful hints, observations, and facts, which otherwise might have never appeared.--Dr. Kippis. Every Art is improved by the emulation of Competitors.--Dr. Johnson. MR. EDITOR, ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. IN your review of Penrose's Journal, you have very happily mentioned the fictitious narrative of the Discovery of the Isle of Pines, as being probably the origin of this kind of romantic adventures. That performance being very scarce, I thought that some of your readers might be amused by the perusal of it; for which purpose I have taken the pains of transcribing the whole from an early copy in my possession. The author was the noted Harry Neville, the friend of Milton, and member of the Rota Club. There was printed the same year a supplemental account of the Isle of Pines, pretended to be written by Capt. Van Sloetten; but whether that also was Neville's, I am ignorant, not having seen the last-mentioned tract. A CONSTANT READER. Account of certain English People; who in the Year M.DLXIX. making a Voyage to the Eust Indies, were cast away, and wrecked upon an uninhabited Fland near the Coast of Terra Australis Incognita, and all drowned except One Man and Five Women.Given by CORNELIUS VAN SLOETTEN, Captain of a Dutch Ship, which was driven there by foul weather in the Year M.DCLXVII. who found their Posterity (speaking good English) to the amount of Ten or Twelve Thousand Souls. London, printed in a thin 4to. 1668." Certain English merchants, encouraged by the great advantages arising from the eastern commodities, in the year 1569 having obtained Queen Elizabeth's royal license, furnished out for the East Indies four ships, of which one English was chosen factor, who embarked on the third of April, O.S. with his wife and family, consisting of a son of twelve years old, a daughter of fourteen, two maid-servants, a female negro-slave, and NEW MONTHLY MAG, -No. 20. George Pine, (his book-keeper,) on board one of the said ships, called the East India Merchant, of 450 tons, being provided with all manner of necessaries and conveniences, in order to settle a factory there. By the 14th of May they were in sight of the Canaries; and soon after arrived at the Cape de Verd islands, where they took in some provisions for their voyage; and steering their course south, and a point east, about the 1st of August came to the island St. Helen; and having taken in some fresh water, set forward for the Cape of Good Hope, where by God's blessing they arrived safe, having hitherto met with no tempestuous or disagreeable sailing weather. But it pleased God when they were almost in sight of St. Laurence, (said to be one of the largest islands in the world,) they were overtaken by a great storm of wind, which separated the from the rest of the ships, and continued with such violence for many days, that being driven out of their knowledge, they lost all hopes of safety. The 1st of October, about break of day, the sea continuing very stormy and tempestuous, they discovered land, which appeared high and rocky; and the nearer they approached to it their fears increased, expecting the ship would suddenly be dashed to pieces. The captain, therefore, Mr. English, and some others, got into the long boat, in hopes by that means to save themselves; and presently after all the sailors cast themselves overboard, endeavouring to save their lives by swimming; but probably, they all perished in the sea. Mr. Pine, Mr. English's daughter, the two maid-servants, and negro girl, were the only persons remaining on board the ship; and these five persons were miraculously preserved; for after the ship had beat three or four times against the . rocks, being now broken, and quite founVOL. IV. 98 Discovery of the Isle of Pines. dered in the waters, they had, with great difficulty, gotten themselves on the bow sprit; which, being broken off, was driven by the waves into a small creek, wherein fell a little river, which, being encompassed by the rocks, was sheltered from the winds, so that they had opportunity, though alinost quite spent, to land themselves. Mr. Pine getting together some rotten wood, by the assistance of a tinder-box he had in his pocket made a fire, by which they dried themselves; and then leaving the females, he went to see if he could find any of the ship's company that possibly might have escaped, but could find none. At length, it drawing towards evening, he, with what he could get from the wreck, returned to his fellow-sufferers, who were very much troubled for want of him; he being now all their support in this lost condition. They were afraid that the wild people of the country (if there were any) might find them out; but could distinguish nei ther footsteps nor paths. And the woods round about them being full of briars and brambles, they apprehended, too, there might be wild beasts to annoy them, though they saw no marks of any. But above all, for want of food, they were afraid of being starved to death; but God had otherwise provided for them. The wreck of the ship furnished them with many necessaries; for, getting together some broken pieces of boards and planks, sails, and rigging, with the help of poles they made themselves tents; and having gotten wood for firing, and three or four sea-gowns to cover them, making the negro their sentry, they slept soundly all night, having been without sleep for several nights before. The next day, after being well refreshed with sleep, the wind ceasing, and the weather being warm, they went down from the rocks on the sands at low water, where they found a great part of the ship's lading, either on shore, or floating near it. Mr. Pine, with the help of his companions, dragged most of it on shore; and what was too heavy for them they broke; and unbinding the casks and chests, and taking out the goods, they secured all; so that they wanted neither clothes nor other necessaries for housekeeping: but the salt water had spoiled all the victuals except one cask of biscuit, which, being lighter, and perhaps better secured than the rest, was undamaged; this served them for bread awhile; and a fowl of about the biguess of a swan, very heavy and fat, which by [Sept. 1, reason of its weight could not fly, served them for present subsistence. The poultry of the ship by some means getting on shore, bred exceedingly, and were a great help to them. They found also in the flags, by a little river, plenty of eggs of fowl much like our ducks, which were very nourishing food; so that they wanted for nothing to keep them alive. Mr. Pine, being now less apprehensive of any thing to disturb him, looked out for a convenient place to build a hut to shelter him and his family from the weather; and, in about a week's time, made, a room large enough to hold them all and their goods; and put up hammocks for his family to sleep in. Having lived in this manner full four months, without seeing or hearing any thing to disturb them, they found the land they were in possession of to be an island, disjoined and out of sight of any other land, uninhabited by any but themselves, and that there was no hurtful beast to annoy them; but, on the contrary, the country was very pleasant, being always clothed in green, and full of agreeable fruits and variety of birds; ever warm, and never colder than in England in September: so that this place (had it the culture that skilful people might bestow on it) would prove a paradise. The woods afforded them a sort of nuts as big as large apples, whose kernel being pleasant and dry, they made use of instead of bread, together with the fowl before-mentioned, and a sort of water-fowl like ducks and their eggs; and a beast about the size of a goat, and almost such a like creature which brought forth two young ones at a time, and that twice a year, of which the lowlands and woods are very full; and being harmless and tame, they could easily take and kill them; fish also, especially shell-fish, were in great plenty: so that, in effect, they wanted nothing of food for subsistence. After being in possession of this country full six months, Nature put them in mind of the great command of the Almighty to our first parents, as if they had been conducted thither by the hand of Providence to people a new world; and in this respect they proved not unfruitful; for, in less than a twelvemonth from their first arrival on this island, the females proved all to be with child, and coming at different seasons they were a great help to one another. The women all had their teemings annually, and the children proved strong and healthy. Their family increasing, they were now well satisfied with their condition; for there 1815.] Discovery of the Isle of Pines. was nothing to hurt them. The warmth of the climate made it agreeable for them to go abroad sometimes, and they reposed themselves on mossy banks shaded by trees. Mr. Pine made several pleasant arbours for him and his women to sleep in during the heat of the day, and in these they passed their time together, the females not liking to be out of his company. Mr. Pine's family was increased, after he had lived in this island 16 years, to 47 children: for his first wife brought him 13; his second 7; his master's daughter, who seemed to be his greatest favourite, 15; and the negro 12; which was all the produce of the first race of mortals in this island. Thinking it expedient to provide for another generation, he gave his eldest son a mate, and took care to match the rest as fast as they grew up and were capable; and, lest they should incumber one another, he appointed his sons habitations at some distance from him; for growing in years, he did not like the wanton annoyance of young company. 99 He called this island the Isle of Pines, and gave the people descended from him the name of the English Pines, distinguishing the tribes of the particular descendants by his wives' names, viz. the Englishes, the Sparks's, the Trevors, and the Phills-Philippa being the name of the negro. Being now very old, and his sight decaying, he gave his habitation and furni ture that was left to his eldest son, after his decease, made him king and governor of the rest, and delivered to him the history of these transactions written with his own hand, commanding him to keep it; and if any strangers should come hither by any accident, to let them see it, and take a copy of it also if they pleased, that the name of this people might not be lost from off the earth. It happened that in the year 1667, Cornelius Van Sloetten, captain of a Dutch ship called the Amsterdam, was driven by foul weather to this island, where he found the posterity of Mr. Pine speaking good English, and amounting to 10 or 12,000 persons. After having lived to the sixtieth year The narrative from which this account of his age, and the fortieth of his being in possession of this island, he summoned is taken, was given by Mr. Pine's grandhis whole people together-children, son to the Dutch captain. Printed in grandchildren, and great-grandchildren London, being licensed, June 27, 1668, amounting to 565, of all sorts. He took the males of one family and married them to females of another; not permitting any to marry their sisters, as they did at first out of necessity. Having taught some of his children to read, he laid them under an injunction to read the Bible once a month at their general meetings. Three of his wives being dead, viz. the negro woman, and the other two who had been servant-maids to his master, she who was his master's daughter survived them twelve years, they were buried in a place he had set apart for that purpose, fixing for his own interment the middle part; so that two of his wives might lie on one side of him, and two on the other; with his chief favourites, one on each side, next to him. Arriving to the eightieth year of his age, and sixtieth of coming to this island, he called his people together a second time, the number of which amounted to 1,789; and having informed them of the manners of Europe, and charged them to remember the Christian religion, after the manner of those who spake the same language, and to adinit of no other, if any should come and find them out, and praying to God to continue the multiplication of them, and send them the true light of his gospel, he dismissed them. Henry Neville, the author of the preceding tract, was the second son of Sir Henry Neville, of Billingbrace in Berkshire, bart., where he was born in 1620. At the age of fifteen he was sent to Merton College, Oxford, from whence he was removed to University College, where he continued some years, but took no degree. On leaving the university he travelled through Europe, and acquired a general knowledge of the modern languages. At his return to England he found the kingdom embroiled in a civil war, on which occasion he sided with the parliament, being a confirmed republican. In 1651 he was chosen one of the council of state, being then a great fayourite with Oliver Cromwell, who became his enemy when he found that Neville resisted his ambitious projects. When Oliver assumed the government Neville stood candidate for Berkshire; but, though he had the majority of votes, the sheriff refused to return him; for which an action was brought against that officer, and a verdict given in favour of the plaintiff, with 1,500l. damages. The chief justice St. John, however, arrested the judgment, and Neville was thus deprived of the advantage which he had gained. He afterward sat in the parliament of Richard Cromwell; but at the |